The present health care system for processing patients from patient intake through physician diagnosis and treatment is well-known. Health care providers, such as hospitals, medical clinics or health maintenance organizations, provide a multi-step process involving the patient and several different health care professionals. Typically, the patient is initially directed by a receptionist to sign in, and if it is the patient's first visit to the health care provider, to complete a medical history questionnaire, including a description of the patient's symptoms, known drug interactions, and allergies. After waiting in a lobby or reception area for an indeterminate amount of time, the patient is usually next seen by a nurse or nurse practitioner who escorts the patient to a consultation or treatment room where the nurse takes and records the patient's vitals, usually his or her weight, temperature and blood pressure. The nurse will normally ask the patient about the patient's symptoms and records the patient's answers on a medical chart. At this point, the patient will normally be asked to wait in the consultation room until the patient's treating physician is able to see the patient.
Before seeing the patient, the physician will usually look at the nurse's notes on the patient's chart. During the physician's consultation with the patient, the doctor will again ask the patient to describe his or her symptoms, again writing the patient's answers on the chart. The physician will then normally conduct a physical examination of the patient and, ultimately, diagnose the patient's disease or condition. If the physician is unsure of the diagnosis, he or she may recommend that the patient see a specialist to make a diagnosis, and/or may order that certain laboratory tests be performed. Once the diagnosis is made, the physician prescribes a course of treatment or therapy.
There are several aspects of the above-described health care system which contribute to its deficiencies and limitations. For example, after the patient has checked in with the receptionist and possibly completed a medical questionnaire, the patient typically waits for several minutes before actually seeing a nurse. Naturally, during this waiting period, no information about the patient's current medical condition is being obtained. Further, the patient is repeatedly asked, by one or more nurses and ultimately by the treating physician, to describe his or her symptoms. Each time the health care practitioner records the patient's responses on the patient's chart. More thorough practitioners may also ask the patient to describe his or her personal and family medical histories, again maybe more than once. Obtaining information about the patient's personal and family medical histories in this fashion is rife with potential inaccuracies due to its reliance on the patient's memory.
Inaccuracies in a patient's personal and family medical histories may, in particular, lead to an incorrect diagnosis by the treating physician. An incorrect diagnosis may also result from the physician's inadvertent failure to consider the significance of the patient's symptoms to all possible diseases, especially those symptoms that indicate disease or condition about which the physician may not have much experience or familiarity. In this regard, a helpful diagnostic tool would be something that would prompt the physician to recommend that the patient see a specialist who had the requisite experience or to suggest to the treating physician that certain, possibly new, laboratory tests be carried out before a final diagnosis is made.
Accordingly, it is the purpose and goal of the present invention to overcome the inadequacies and limitations of the current health care system for processing patients from patient intake through physician diagnosis and treatment.